The Great Wall is a long moment in time and history that tells
of what seems to be a never ending struggle for security in a
violent and dangerous world. It is a saga of astonishing success
and ultimate failure, of ingenuity, determination, the will to
survive and, in the end, fail. Ironically, it is one of the most
visited tourist attractions in the world.
The Great Wall is a long moment in time and history that tells of what seems to be a never ending struggle for security in a violent and dangerous world. It is a saga of astonishing success and ultimate failure, of ingenuity, determination, the will to survive and, in the end, fail. Ironically, it is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the world.
The Great Wall of China is the longest structure ever built. Constructed totally without machinery with only the hands, sweat and grit of mostly forced labor. It snakes across northern China between the east coast and north central China for more than 4,000 miles.
The origins of the Great Wall lie in these fractured lines of fortifications and in the vision of Emperor Qin Shi Haung, who unified the empire in the third century B.C. and joined and extended the sections to form one continuous defense against barbarians.
Imagine a wall 30 feet high, a wall thousands of miles long that crossed deserts and climbed over impossibly jagged peaks, a wall that contained thousands of individual forts and towers, a wall that was guarded by more than one million soldiers and a wall that took 200 years to build.
Now imagine the enemy that the wall was built to defend against. The Mongols were nomadic warriors of legendary skill and savagery. Their empire encompassed most of the known world, from southern Asia to northern Europe, from the Middle East to the Sea of Japan. When the fierce and unstoppable horsemen turned their energy to invading China, there seemed to be only one solution to the leaders of China – turn the vast empire into a fortress. They decided to build new walls and connect already existing walls throughout the land to form a barrier against the enemy.
Over the centuries, various rulers built walls to protect their northern borders. Some of the walls stood near the site of the Great Wall. Most of what is now called The Great Wall dates from the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The eastern end of the surviving Ming Wall stretches from Shanhaiguan Pass on the east coast to Jiayuguan Pass in the Gobi Desert. But during some periods, the wall reached as far east as Dandong and as far west as Danhuang, near Anxi. (Get your atlas out and be amazed at the vastness of this endeavor.)
Many parts of the Great Wall have crumbled through the years. A remarkable amount has survived and much has been restored. The main part of the wall is 2,150 miles long. Additional walls make up the rest of its length. One of the highest sections of the Great Wall, on Mount Badaling, near Beijing, rises to about 35 feet high and is 25 feet wide at its base. It boasts that an army could march six abreast on its dirt pounded roads. Watchtowers stand about 100 to 200 yards apart along the wall. The towers, each about 40 feet high, once served as lookout posts. (If you visit one of these towers watch your head when entering. I kept bumping my head at almost every entrance and I am 5 feet tall).
In the east, the wall winds through the mountainous Mongolian Border Uplands. This part of the wall has a foundation of granite blocks. It has sides of stone or brick, and the inside of the walls are filled with earth. The top is paved with bricks set in mortar.
Farther west, The Great Wall runs through hilly areas and along borders of deserts. Stone and brick were scarce in these hilly and desert areas so earth was used by moistening and tamping down layer after layer of soil to make the seemingly never ending road.
History tells us that the Chinese built walls along their borders as early as the 600 B.C. Emperor Shi Huangdi of the Qin dynasty (221-206 B.C.) is the first ruler to conceive of – and build – a Great Wall. Most of the Qin wall was north of the present day wall. Shi Huangdi had the wall built by linking up new walls with older ones. Building continued during later dynasties, including the Han (202 B.C. – A.D. 220) and the Sui (581-618).
The effort required hundreds of thousands of workers, including many political prisoners. An estimated 180 million cubic meters of rammed earth was used to form the base of the original wall, and legend tells that one of the building materials used was the many bodies of deceased workers.
By the time the Ming dynasty began in 1368, much of the wall had fallen to ruin. In response to the growing threat to the Mongol invasion, the Ming government began building a major wall in the late 1400s. The wall included most of what remains today, but it never reached its ultimate goal as a defense line to keep invaders out. There is a quote attributed to Genghis Khan, who supposedly stated that, “The strength of the wall depends on the courage of those who defend it.”
It was a useful venue for transporting men and equipment across mountainous terrain. Its beacon tower system, using smoke signals by burning wolves’ dung, sent news of enemy movements with speed to the capitol.
Through the centuries, much of the Great Wall collapsed. In 1949, the Chinese Communists started to restore parts of the wall into a successful tourist attraction. The historical implications of this great wonder are both awe inspiring and sad considering the lives and shattered dreams it took to create it. It really didn’t make a difference and the greatest accomplishment of the Ming dynasty was an important cause of its downfall. But like so many things in history, the irony becomes bittersweet. We can savor the ideas of man that are thousands of years old and walk on The Great Wall today and feel we are a part of history.
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Where to go and What to see
– The closest and most crowded point to the wall near Beijing is the Badaling Fortress, a restored part of the wall that can be reached by car or tour bus with a little more than an hour drive. A cable car is available to get up to the area.
– Go a little farther for less commercialism and crowds to The Great Wall at Mutianyu perched on a high ridge with stunning views – but a hard climb. There is also a cable car to make the assent easier.
– For the adventurous and very fit, try The Great Wall at Simatai. This area is remote with very little restoration and offers a very steep, challenging hike.
– For a less spectacular, grueling walk, go west from the small lake below the wall, toward the restored Jinshanling area.
– There are modest entry fees at all venues.
